Primary election season is upon us, and it is a great time to look back and review some of the more fiscally irresponsible votes lawmakers claiming to be “conservative” on the campaign trail took before we decide to trust them…

The Texas budgeting process is one that very few people actually understand in Texas politics, let alone how lawmakers arrive at a finalized budget for the next two fiscal years. In this explainer, we aim to give a simple overview…

Most Texas taxpayers have probably never heard of the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) or as it’s sometimes referred to, “the Rainy Day Fund.” Our assumption is that lawmakers are content to keep the ESF hidden because if most taxpayers knew…

One of many government programs that many Texans have no clue exists is the Texas Enterprise Fund. Millions of tax dollars are distributed from this program, yet it never receives much attention from the public. The program is administered via…

Recently Truth In Accounting released their most recent Financial State of the Cities for 2022. This report analyzed the financial health of the top 75 cities in America during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The report found that 61 cities did not…

During this last session, there was a major push to ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying that fell short. This was spearheaded by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) and his bill SB 10. This issue was one of the Republican Party…

  With the primary season quickly approaching TFR always wants to remind its subscribers and all Texas taxpayers of the free resource that we provide to assist in making decisions at the ballot box. Although TFR no longer makes endorsements,…

Yesterday Governor Greg Abbott announced his “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” proposal at a meeting of the Kingwood Tea Party. In response, many grassroots activists reported being underwhelmed after reviewing the plan claiming to put Texas on a path to reduce…

In response to our article defining the correlation between inflation and interest rates, TFR has been asked by many subscribers to explain the system that makes this possible. What is fractional reserve banking? Fractional reserve banking is a system of…

With the recent talk about inflation hitting 40-year highs at 7% this past week, there has been a lot of discussions specifically centered on what the Federal Reserve’s strategy is going to be in response. Most of you have probably…

  CPI data released this morning revealed that the year-over-year inflation rate has hit 7%. This is the highest rate experienced in 40 years (since 1982) in the USA and there is no sign that we will be inflecting downward…

  The first Fiscal Responsibility Index was released in 2007 as a tool to provide Texas taxpayers with the transparency needed for a system that was created to protect incumbent lawmakers. Before the existence of the index, no other organization…

According to CPI data released today, inflation has hit a 30 year high at 6.2% year over year. This has officially killed the narrative that “inflation is transitory” and will magically disappear according to the Federal Reserve. But what is…

Texas has more than 1,200 school districts and the formula that funds this leviathan is confusing and frustrating. This must change, allowing for transparency and accountability. The school districts get most of their funding from locally levied property taxes. This…